THE noble demesne of Wynnstay, the seat of Sir Watkyn Williams Wynne,
Bart. is situated at the eastern extremity of the vale of Llangollen, in
an open and level, though elevated district. The grounds owe much to the
taste and magnificent ideas of its successive proprietors, and the
embellishments, that have been added year after year present now a
wonderful and beautiful association, their grandeur being accompanied, as
the scenery of all private parks usually is, with an air of melancholy.
The Hall is a spacious but not a regular building. It consists of an
ancient mansion, to which a part only of a new and extensive design has
been attached. The old house stands upon the site of a British palace,
once the residence of Gryffydd ap Madoc Maelor, Lord of Bromfield and
Yale, and founder of the abbey of Valle Crucis. The new house, part of a
greater design, by Cockenell, was built by the first Sir Watkyn; it is a
simple regular elevation, possessing the great merit of capaciousness, a
quality indispensably requisite in the Hall of a family conspicuous
through generations for the exercise of a liberal hospitality. The
principal apartment or state drawing-room is seventy feet in length by
thirty in breadth, lighted by six spacious windows, the piers being
occupied by richly ornamented cabinets filled with curiosities of various
descriptions. The ceiling, which is separated into sunk panels and
beautifully finished with stucco and gilding, is sustained by pillars of
porphyry corresponding with the elegant pilasters which adorn the side
walls. In this splendid apartment are a few portraits by Sir Godfrey
Kneller, Vandyck, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Dahl, with a bust of the
_Great_ Sir Watkyn, as he is sometimes styled, by Rysbach; and two
admirable busts by Nollekens, one of the present baronet, the other of
Lord Grenville. A few good landscapes are hung in the different
apartments, a portrait of Wilson by himself is a masterly performance,
and an original three-quarter portrait of Flora Macdonald is both
interesting and clever. The library contains the remains of a choice
collection of manuscripts, the rest having unhappily been destroyed by an
accidental fire; those that were preserved are chiefly biographical. In
the dining-room stands a large silver font about three feet in length,
supported by a pillar of the same height. This tribute of public merit
was presented to the present Sir Watkyn by the gentry of his native
county, Denbigh.
The extent, elegance, and beauty of the demesne are more than
proportionate to the arrangements of the mansion. A spacious park well
stocked with red and fallow deer surrounds the house, it is adorned with
noble forest trees, and varied by well disposed artificial pieces of
water. The quarter of the demesne, called the “Bath Grounds,” is a most
gratifying specimen of landscape gardening. These delightful pleasure
grounds, laid out by Mr. Evans, consist of shrubberies, walks, and
bowers, disposed with admirable taste. A noble sheet of water occupies
the centre of the wood; it is formed by the expansion of a little brook,
artfully conducted over a rocky precipice at the extremity, where it is
thrown into a pleasing and picturesque cascade. The Bath, which lends a
distinguishing name to this part of the demesne, is a limpid fountain
confined by an enclosure of cut stone. A beautiful Grecian temple,
adorned with a portico of four columns, supporting an entablature and
pediment, stands close by it, and is beautifully reflected in its smooth
waters at the approach of evening. Near the entrance to the Bath Grounds
a fluted column of one hundred feet in height, surmounted by a funeral
urn, presents an interesting memorial of maternal affection, and a
beautiful specimen of columnar architecture: it was designed by Mr.
Wyatt. The entablature is surrounded by a gallery approached by steps
concealed within the shaft, and the plinth is adorned with wreaths of oak
leaves descending from the beaks of eagles. On the cenotaph is graven
this brief but feeling epitaph—
Filio optimo, Mater, eheu! superstes.
In a demesne of such extent, the creation and combination of so many
persons, years, events, &c. many beautiful and romantic rides may
naturally be supposed to have been formed. The new approach, opened by
the present Sir Watkyn, and commencing at the iron bridge, leads to the
Hall by an avenue of three miles in length, through an amazing variety of
sylvan scenery. But this is not the great boast of Wynnstay; the
consummation of all its wonders and its beauties is reserved for the vale
of Nant y Belan. {83} Here nature has profusely displayed her charms.
Two steep banks, richly clothed with woods that dip into the torrent’s
bed and wave upon either side, form a long vista of inexpressible
grandeur. The winding Dee here pours her rapid flood along with awful
murmurings and at a fearful depth, then throwing herself headlong into a
deep dark pool, seems to rest, as if exhausted with the violence of the
efforts by which it was attained. This grand picture forms but the
foreground of an extensive landscape, wherein the middle distance is
occupied by the happy scenery of Llangollen, and the remotest filled by
the British Alps. Upon the rock from whence this panorama is beheld, Sir
Watkyn has erected a circular temple, to the memory of his brave
associates, his army of ancient Britons, who fell in the unhappy Irish
rebellion of 1798.
The whole of this spacious demesne is enclosed by a stone wall nine miles
in extent, and the principal entrance is through a straight avenue, one
mile in length, overshadowed by aged oaks. Wattstay was the original
name of this estate, so called from its situation upon Watt’s Dyke, but
exchanged for Wynnstay by Sir John, when it became his property by
marriage with Jane, daughter and heiress of Eyton Evans of Wattstay, Esq.
[Picture: Chirk Castle; Llanrwst Church; Flint Castle. London.
Published by T. T. & J. Tegg, Cheapside, Oct. 1st 1832]
Sir Watkyn is of the ancient Gwydyr stock, and traces his descent to Owen
Gwynedd, Prince of Wales. The Wynnstay branch has been united with some
of the noblest families of England; the present baronet is married to the
Lady Harriet, daughter of the Earl of Powis, and sister of the Duchess of
Northumberland.
The manufacturing village of Ruabon, or Rhiwabon, lies immediately
outside the demesne wall, and is inhabited by persons connected with the
iron foundries and coal pits of this mineral district. On a conspicuous
height above it, commanding a view of the vale of Llangollen, stands a
handsome square embattled tower of two stories, erected by the present
owner of Wynnstay to commemorate the event of the field of Waterloo.
The posthumous honours paid to this ancient family have employed the
chisels of the ablest sculptors, and adorn a temple which their
munificence has erected. The first Sir John of Wynnstay, who was the
grandson of Sir John of Gwydyr, is interred in Rhiwabon church, beneath,
as Mr. York calls it, perhaps for the exercise of a pleasant
alliteration, “a mass and massacre of marble.” The monument of Lady
Harriet Somerset, first wife of Sir Watkyn, who died in 1769, is one of
_Nollekens’_ happiest designs; and on one side of the altar is a noble
monument, by Rysbach, of the first Sir Watkyn, who was killed by a fall
from his horse, on the 26th of September, 1749. The image of this
eminent person’s mind has been as feelingly pourtrayed by the classic Dr.
King, as the graces of his person are truly expressed by the chisel of
the artist.
An elegant baptismal font, of white marble, and resting on a tripod of
distinguished grace, was presented to the church and parish, along with
the excellent organ in the gallery, by the second Sir Watkyn, in the year
1772.